Kent Spitfires v Essex Eagles
Royal London One-Day Cup
Sunday 05 April
The County Ground, Beckenham
Essex Eagles Team: Varun Chopra, Alastair Cook, Tom Westley, Dan Lawrence, Ravi Bopara, Simon Harmer (c), Rishi Patel, Robbie White (wk), Matt Coles, Aaron Beard, Jamie Porter.
Kent Spitfires Team: Daniel Bell-Drummond, Zak Crawley, Matt Renshaw, Heino Kuhn (c), Alex Blake, Ollie Robinson, Adam Rouse (wk), Harry Podmore, Matthew Milnes, Imran Qayyum, Fredrick Klaassen.
Toss: Kent Spitfires won the toss and elected to bowl.
Umpires: Martin Saggers & Russell Warren.
Result: Kent Spitfires won by 6 wickets.
Match Report:
Essex Eagles fell to a 6-wicket defeat to Kent Spitfires in their Royal London One-Day Cup clash at Beckenham as the home side successfully reached their target of 272 with 20 balls to spare.
Essex posted 271 for 9 after they had been put into bat with Alastair Cook and Tom Westley both contributing half-centuries, but Daniel Bell-Drummond’s unbeaten 120 proved pivotal to leave the Eagles going home empty-handed.
The Spitfires were given the perfect launch pad in their response to the visitors below par score when Bell-Drummond and Zak Crawley put on 188 for the opening wicket before being parted. That represented a new first wicket stand in List A matches between the two sides before Ravi Bopara made the breakthrough when pinning Crawley in front of his stumps for 94.
Simon Harmer removed Matt Renshaw cheaply before Matt Coles claimed a couple of wickets against his former colleagues but it was all too little too late from the Eagles with as the home side reached 272 for 4 wickets.
Cook and Westley had earlier combined to post a second wicket partnership of 97 in 19 overs after Varun Chopra was dismissed for 2 on a bitterly cold day. Westley reached 50 for the fourth time in the competition this season, with his latest effort spanning 51 balls with a 6 and six other boundaries whilst Cook’s 50 arrived from 60 balls aided by 5 fours.
However, Westley departed for 58 and Cook for 53. The demise of Cook with the total on 125 saw four wickets fall in 41 balls for 42 runs as Lawrence (22), Ravi Bopara (9) and Patel (4) all joined Cook back in the pavilion.
Simon Harmer, captaining the side in the absence of Ryan ten Doeschate, and Coles added 35 runs later in the innings before Coles, who scored 26, was joined by Aaron Beard who scored 22 not out in a ninth-wicket stand worth 33 runs.
Unfortunately, the Eagles batting overall fell short of expectations leaving the hosts with a comfortable target to chase down.
